Pubdate: Wed, 5 Mar 2008 Source: Record Searchlight (Redding, CA) Copyright: 2008 Record Searchlight Contact: http://www.redding.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/360 Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v08/n240/a01.html Author: Michael Metz POT GROWING IS NO SURPRISE Asking why pot is growing near schools (editorial, Sunday) is like asking why grass grows near trees (no pun intended). Humans have cultivated it for our entire history -- from China and Rome to today. Next, consider that there are schools everywhere. Where should these people live? I'm guessing you don't care as long as it's "not in our town." Consider what DEA Administrative Judge Francis L. Young wrote concerning evidence of marijuana as medicine in 1986: "Marijuana, in its natural form, is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man. By any measure of rational analysis, marijuana can be safely used within a supervised routine of medical care. ... It would be unreasoning, arbitrary and capricious for the DEA to continue to stand between those sufferers and the benefit of this substance, in light of the evidence on record." The DEA rejected its own judge's ruling then and continues to defy reason and rational thought. Nice to know the Record Searchlight is equally myopic. Michael Metz Redding - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake